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Charleston is one of the best walking cities in the U.S.
and a good place to begin your walk is Charleston’s Waterfront Park. The
waves slap gently against the boardwalk while locals and visitors alike
enjoy swinging in oversized porch swings and strolling through the breezy
park. People can be seen all around the park relaxing on benches, reading
books while lying in the cool grass, walking and playing with their dogs,
or going for their daily jog. Cruise ships and naval vessels often dock
nearby and there is plenty of fishing to be done off the small pier.
Telescopes are available in order to gain a closer look at wildlife and
catch a glimpse of Patriot’s Point across the harbor, where out of service
naval vessels are available for touring. Waterfront Park holds a fountain
that sprays water in multiple directions and the public is welcome to run
through the water and the spray of the fountain. Perfect for those humid
summer days! The pineapple is the Southern symbol for hospitality and a
pineapple-shaped fountain rests in the middle of the park, inviting
walkers to soak their feet a few moments prior to venturing further into
town to explore more opportunities.

Heading east out of Waterfront
Park will lead you to the Battery at the tip of the peninsula, where ships
with tall masts and sails once docked and Civil War cannons proudly stood,
facing the harbor and the Atlantic Ocean. There seems to be a constant,
steady breeze floating across the Battery, palm trees rustling in the wind
and myriad boats sailing and racing across the harbor. This is one of the
most relaxing and rejuvenating spots in the town, where you can take the
time to be still in a busy world, breathe deeply, let the wind run its
fingers through your hair and just lose yourself for a while in the sights
and sounds of the harbor and the smell of the salty sea air.

Adjoining the Battery is White
Point Gardens, a large grassy area shaded by massive oaks and fringed with
cannons, monuments, and historical statues. Pigeons and seagulls often fly
into the shaded park to eat and rest their wings. In the middle of the
park is a large white gazebo and it isn’t uncommon to come across a
wedding in progress or a string quartet playing in the gazebo. Horse
and buggies roll around the Battery and the park off and on all day,
giving visitors a glimpse of the past, as do the grand old mansions lining
the Battery.

From
White Point Gardens you can continue your walk back through town on
Meeting Street, which will eventually lead you to the City Market, or take
your pick of any number of streets that crisscross the city, some of them
still cobblestone just as they were a century ago. Take your time as you
meander along the streets and past the homes that transport you back into
the past with hidden gardens surrounded by decorative wrought iron gates
and ancient Spanish moss-laden oaks. The clip-clop of horses’ feet,
cemeteries, and some the oldest churches in our country remind you of the
beginnings of America. Charleston is often referred to as “The Holy City”
because there are so many churches; you are never out of sight of a church
steeple. The whole city seems to be a garden in itself, lush with azaleas
in the spring season and other types of blossoms and foliage the remainder
of the year. Everything is so picturesque, one would never know that
Charleston has endured its share of devastating earthquakes, fires, and
hurricanes through the years.

A self-guided tour is a
great way to spend a day or a weekend, but to gain further insight and a
sense of the city’s history, a guided walking tour is also an option. On a
recent visit to Charleston, we chose to participate in one of the many
walking tours, Anna’s House & Garden Walking Tour. Being a 12th
generation Charleston native, Anna Blythe has an abundant knowledge of the
area and its history. The tour begins under the green awning at 61 Queen
St., at a shop called Charleston Gardens, and the tour goes rain or shine.
Fortunately, the weather was perfect on this day- sunny and 80 degrees.

Anna
was able to explain about many of the homes on the route: Who owned them,
who bought them, additions and repairs throughout the years, the certain
styles and periods of the homes, and just about everything you would want
to learn. A home on Queen Street had actually been picked up and moved
back in order to create parking space. The balconies of a three-story
house near the Battery are supported by the three styles of Greek columns,
going from bottom to top, Doric, Ionian, and Corinthian. The
architecture on all these homes is superb! There is so much to see. Our
group learned about the windows in the homes that could be fully opened
and used as doors, the stone blocks found all around the city that are
stepping stones to enter a carriage, the boot scrapes placed outside the
front door to remove dirt and mud, and how many of the homes are turned at
an angle to catch the ocean breezes. And one of the most interesting
things about the homes are the earthquake rods. Past earthquakes had
shaken and shifted the homes, and rods were run through the homes in order
to stabilize them. Once the rods were in place, they could be slowly
turned until the house was once again level. The washers at the ends of
the rods can be seen on the outside of the homes. I noticed that several
of the washers had been covered with decorative metal lions’ heads. There
is a definite lion theme in this area. It can be seen in statues placed at
front doors of homes, lion decorations placed on top of and around
buildings, and lion faces forged into the iron gates.

Even
though the homes are elegant, they require constant upkeep and repair.
Many of the first floors of homes and restaurants were flooded during
Hurricane Hugo in 1989, which left a musty smell for quite some time and
required extensive repair. One of the homes we passed had recently been
painted a soft purple hue, described as “the marshes in winter.” Being a
mountain girl, I likened it to the color of twilight over the mountains
just before nightfall.

Anna
led us into several secluded gardens along the way. Shady and cool with a
multitude of greenery and fragrant blooms, goldfish ponds with flowing
fountains, simple walkways and statues, the gardens gave all kinds of
ideas that could be used in our own gardens at home. One of the gardens
included a playhouse that four generations have played in and a dog who
came out of the house to curiously look us over and then went back inside.
I guess we all looked pretty harmless. Vines and native plants were
pointed out to us all along the tour, one of them being the Jerusalem
Thorn Bush. The bush has sets of thorns along its branches, one long and
two short thorns that represent Jesus and the two thieves on the cross. It
is believed that Jesus’ thorn of crowns was made from the Jerusalem Thorn
Bush.

Toward
the end of the tour we were ushered into the Palmer Home, an 1849 mansion
located on 5 East Battery It is now operated as a bed and breakfast. This
stately home is painted a soft pink with white trim and black shutters.
The owners of the pink palace live in what used to be the carriage house
and the bottom floor of the home and the other floors are used for the bed
and breakfast operations. Our group was led through the front door of the
home and up the carpeted staircase to the second floor dining room, where
assorted refreshments of sweets and pink lemonade had been laid out for us
to enjoy. We then took our refreshments onto the balcony (also called a
piazza), where we relaxed in rocking chairs and gazed out to sea toward
Fort Sumter. We waved to passersby as if we all lived there. The third
floor piazza holds additional rocking chairs and a telescope for long
range viewing. After taking the break from walking, we went back into the
house for a tour of the parlors and bedrooms. Each room was colorful, and
chandeliers glistened throughout the house. Anna pointed out pieces of
antique furniture and glassware along with ancestral portraits on the
walls. I noticed a lot of bird prints throughout the house, and photos of
the family over the years gave the house a real homey touch. The ocean
breeze keeps the house cool most of the time.

At the
end of our house tour, we let ourselves out and closed the iron gate
behind us, entering once again into the modern world. But as we walked
around the Battery and onto Meeting Street, we were again greeted by the
past, where we came upon African-American basket weavers selling their
wares on the street. This type of basket-making was originally brought
here from Africa and has been taught to each generation and preserved
until today. The baskets are woven so tightly that they can easily hold
water, and some of the baskets require 10 to 12 hours to
create.

The tour ended on
Queen Street, having made a loop around several blocks. City maps can be
obtained at the visitor center, bikes can be rented, and a public
transportation system is available to continue your self-guided tour.
There is lots more to see! All types of architecture, history,
plantations, the Citadel military academy, City Market, museums, succulent
seafood, art, the South Carolina Aquarium and IMAX theater and, of course,
the beaches, just about 20 minutes outside the city. The only tea
plantation in America is located in Charleston. And all kinds of shopping.
Clothing stores, chocolate shops, restaurants and the intoxicating aromas
of those cozy little coffee and tobacco shops. So the next time you need a
getaway to escape the fast pace of the world and uplift your spirits,
consider a walking tour of Charleston’s historic district.